Joron: Awesome Teacher Woman

Wooowwww. I guess I'll start with my three favorite sentences:

1. "Rule 1: Black English is about a whole lot more than mothafuckin."
This is one of my favorite sentences simply because it made me laugh out loud. Period.

2. "If your idea, your sentence, assumes the presence of at least two living and active people, you will make it understandable because the motivation behind every sentence is the wish to say something real to somebody real."
First, this sentence, in a way, describes what sympathetic reading and responding is all about. It's about understanding and believing what the author is saying. Isn't that why everybody writes? Isn't it true that by writing about living people, REAL people, you want people to understand. You want your message/idea to be understood. Who else would you be trying to write to other than real people? Your ideas are real enough.... why not?

3. "I will never forget the eloquence, the sudden haltings of speech, the fierce struggle against tears, the furious throwaway, and useless explosions that this question elicited."
To me, this sentence PERFECTLY describes what a true argument is like. Not just any argument though. There are a few universal questions, that when asked, people feel very strongly they know the answer to. You stand by your reasoning even though you want to cry. So many emotions running through you at the same same. You are furious. You are reckless at times. You are devestated. Wow, what a powerful sentence. LOVE it!


This story made me cry at the end. During the part where Jordan tells us the results of Reggie Jordan's autopsy. Eight gun shots. The description of where they were and how many there were just yanked the tears right out of me. Part of it was disbelief. Why were EIGHT SHOTS needed to be shot? Eight shots is enough to kill eight men. Think of it that way. This is the best example of unnecessary cruelty; and it disgusts me.

The other story was not quite so powerful to me. It definately did not hit me as hard as this one. Although, Delpit and Jordan are both teachers writing from their first hand experience, Jordan was more powerful in getting his meaning across. Jordan focussed more on the individuals of his class. This let me get to know them and the kind of kids he was working with. I WANTED them to improve. I WANTED their stories to get published. I was more connected to his students than I was to Delpit's students. Delpit talked about herself most of the time. She talked about her internal conflicts on what she thought was the right way to teach black children. She talked about how she failed. She talked about how she hopes educators will do a better job in the future. I don't want to hear about that. I want to hear about the students and where they've gone with Black English.